New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-01
PRICE THREE CENTS.
GARRETT BEGINS TO SELL.
HIS EXPRESS LINES GO TO THE UNITED
STATES COMPANY.

HIS EXPRESS LINES GO TO THE UNITED
STATES COMPANY.
THE PRICE SAID TO BE $4,000, ,0O0-MR. PLATY
REFUSES TO GIVE THE EXACT YIaUREs-JoHN
HoEY, OF THE ADAMS COMPANY, MAKES
FEW REMARKS ON THE SALE
TERMS OF THE TRANSFER.
1t was announced at an early hour yesterday
that the express business of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad Com any had been sold to the
United States Express Company for price
reported to be $2,50O,000. Tie exact figures
were regarded by Wall Street as a matter Of
minor Importance. The Immediate confirmation
of the news was hcralded sign that the
long expected disintegration of the Baltimore
and Ohio system had begun and PROMPT advance
In the price of Western Union convinced every one
that settlement of the telegraph troubles was
near at hand. 1t has boen admitted for long
time that If the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
ever aband ned its telegraph enterprises the
Western Union would be the only buyer.
Overtures have been made on both sides, but
they have been unavailing thus far for tho
reason that Mr.. Gould was not willing to pay
the price asked for the Baltimore and Ohio
lines or TO buy them at any price, unless he could
secure control also of the other opposition com.
panies, while Mr.. Garrett has shown an evident
reluctance TO surrender his telegraph system
to the Western Union Company. There is a
common impression in Wall Street that he would
not have become involved with a concern like
Henry S. Ives & Co, to which he gave option
for control Of the railroad company. il it had
not been for his inherited antipathy to the
Western Union Company. 1t was remembered
that the occasion for declaring the negotiations
~. x1,o T,,ac
the telegraph system to Mr.. Gould. price
might have been agreed upon without much diff
Guilty perhaps, but at this point Mr.. Gould dis
covered that Ives could not deliver the property
without further authority from President Garrett
which could not be granted apparently, If the
Western Union was to be the purchaser.
The agreement for the transfer OF the express
business derived inn ortance from these facts. The
sale is, in fact lease of the express department.
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
for thirty years. Tho United States ENp.ess
Company buys what is called the plant. horses,
wagons, cars and real estate. and contracts to
do the express business on the Baltimore and
Ohio lines, for which privilege it pays o certain
rental The precise terms of the agreement
could not be learned yesterday. President
Thomas G. Platt, of the United States Express
Company, declined to discuss them. He said that
they were private business matter which he
aid not feel at liberty to talk about. 1t was
reported ON excellent authority, however, that
the company agreed to give the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad s3,000,000 of its capital stock at
90 and notice of an increase of capital from
100000 to slO,OOO,OOO was given to the Stock
Exchange by the company yesterday. 1t Is
understood that one-half of this new stock has
been taken by syndicate headed by O new
director of the United States Express Company,
but the price was not made known. The stock
advanced somewhat In the open market and az
about 20 half of the new issue would amount
to 81 100000. 1t was inferred by some persons
that the rumor that this sum was paid in cash
in addition TO Sl,500,0O0, par value, of Express
Company stock simply Misrepresentation.
| The issue Of stock at so Is probably the
whole amount received by the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad for Its express company plant
| and the thirty years franchise.
The contract is said TO be dated August II
and it was signed last week. The negotiations
were conducted on the part Of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad by Vicc-President Samuel
| Spencer in the absence OF Robert Garrett. The
name Of the leased cypress company Will not DO
! changed for the present. The United States
Company Will take possession to-day and hereafter
| operate the Baltimore and Ohio Express Company
| under the terms of the contract. In all the
previous plans for the distribution OF the Balti-
| more and Ohio property it has been rumored
! usually that the express business would go To
| he Adams Express Company, the telegraph system
| to the Western Union. and the railroad lines to
the Pennsylvania Railroad. The original option
| obtained by Alfred Sully was in the interest or
the Richmond and West Point Te-'ninal Railway
and the railroad companies Of that Southern
system. One Of the principal causes that defeated
the scheme the opposition OF the Pennsylvania
Railroad, which was eXcrted presumably through
| Austin Corbin, president OF the Philadel hia and
Reading Railroad and an old associate of Mr..
Sully's. 1t has been commonly understood that
| the Baltimore and Ohio expected to obtain an
entrance to New-forl harbor by means Of the
Reading and Jersey Central roads. and that in
fact this one Of the conditions Of the Sully
option. The relations of the Pennsy sylvania and
Reading Companies were such that the scheme
fell through from an apparent inability Of Me.
Sully to make q payment OF Sl,OdO,OO0. Tho
| fact that the express business has now been
secured by the United States Company excited
q suspicion yesterday that after all the railroad
| property might be controlled In the interest of
| the Southern railroad system in accordance with
| the original plans.
The official version Of the transaction furnished
| for publication by Mr. Patt was follows:
The plant franchises and business of the Baltimore
and Ohio Express Company have been sold the
United States Express Company tor a period OF
thirty years. The sale was made directly by the Bal
tmore and Ohio Railroad Company. No other parties
were recognized. The agreement was cOnsummated
last week, and we take pos'essioo Tomorrow Neso-
MOI. b, having begun With President Garrett before
his departure TOR Europe.
Mr. Platt replied to inquiries that the agreement
provided for the sale OF the express plant anu the
lease OF the business for the time namei. Il do
not know whether lawyers would call the trans
action a sale or a lease. 1t is outright sale
of the express property, but the franchise IS
only for thirty years. cannot publish the terms"
VIGOROUS TALK FROM JOHN uoEY.
The express system of the Baltimore and Ohio,
including the lines controlled by it running over
other railroads, covers about 5000 miles. Wall
Street when 1t heard of the news drew some
deductions unfavorable to the Adams Express
Company which formerly olerated the Baltimore
and Ohio system. With regard to the effect
of the sale or lease on the Adams Company,
John Hoey vioe-presidcnt Of the company, made
the following statement: